Editors, anchors, executive producers, reporters, and campaigns are instantly aware when Drudge posts something political. And with just days to go before the voting — with everyone so busy, so tired, so manic, and so vulnerable — political and media actors are more easily turned chasing in whatever direction Drudge points them. Or, more specifically, in whatever direction Drudge’s spoon-feeding sources point them.

Drudge is only a big deal because journalists like Halperin, who has compared Drudge to Walter Cronkite, make him big. Halperin regularly writes about the freak show in which Drudge posts something and it becomes news. If journalists would practice sound journalism and only go with stories based upon a legitimate, and preferably more than one, source, then Drudge would not have any influence.

What is really strange is that when journalists such as Halperin turn the responsibility over to deciding what is news to someone like Drudge, then they are really showing that their own jobs are no longer necessary. There’s no need to bother with journalists who simply regurgitate Drudge’s rumors when anyone can go directly to Drudge’s site.